Equal Justice Initiative

County Health Rankings released by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute show that Lowndes County ranks last in health of all Alabama counties. The contrast with top-ranked Shelby County in factors from availability of doctors to access to healthy foods is striking.

Since December 14, 2012, when 20 children and six adult staff members were shot and killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, Congress has debated but failed to pass any measure restricting access to high-capacity magazines that can inflict mass violence or strengthening background checks for gun buyers, while more than 2200 people have been killed by guns. In fact, some state legislators responded to the tragedy at Sandy Hook by introducing bills that would make guns and ammunition more accessible.

Lawrence Johnson, who was sentenced to die in prison in Delaware for his minor role in a robbery-murder when he was just 16 years old, received a new sentence this week that provides for his release from prison.

On Friday, March 29, 2013, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals overturned Kevin Towles's capital murder conviction and death sentence because the prosecution was improperly allowed to rely on prejudicial and irrelevant evidence to convict him.

Starting on September 3, 2012, torrential rain and flash flooding from Hurricane Isaac destroyed the Harris and Smith families' homes in Lowndes County, Alabama. When emergency services and disaster relief failed to respond, the Harris and Smith families contacted the Alabama Center for Rural Enterprise and EJI for help. Last month, the families moved into new, fully furnished homes provided by an anonymous donor.

The Alabama Legislature passed a joint resolution honoring civil rights activist and professor Angela Davis for her significant contributions to social justice through her activism and scholarship. The resolution was offered by black legislators and, like most commendation resolutions, was passed on a voice vote in a block of similar resolutions. Governor Robert Bentley refused to sign the resolution because, his spokeswoman said, "he had reservations about commending someone who had leadership ties to the Communist Party.”

EJI is proud to announce the launch of our new online timeline, A History of Racial Injustice. The timeline provides expanded content to complement our A History of Racial Injustice 2013 calendar, including new photos and in-depth information about each of the events profiled in our calendar.

According to a new survey by the Pew Center on the States, as of January 2010, there were 1,404,053 people in state prisons, which was 4777 fewer than reported at the end of 2008. This marks the first year-to-year drop in the nation’s state prison population since 1972.

Today there is widespread recognition that the goal of providing counsel to the nation's poor, stated by the United States Supreme Court fifty years ago in Gideon v. Wainwright, has not been achieved.